


Camping with the Gang

by badsunflower



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Body Horror, Character Death, Gen, Horror, Monsters, One Shot, Original Fiction, Scary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:15:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28084530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badsunflower/pseuds/badsunflower
Summary: Part 4 of Emily's creative writing assignments





	Camping with the Gang

I am all but a corpse now. A body resting at the bottom of a well. It’s rather sobering, staring down at your own body from above. I’m sure you’d like to know how I got here, wouldn’t you? I might as well tell you. Seems I’ve got some time to kill before my soul releases its grip on this mortal coil and vanishes into the ether.

Camping with my friends: who would’ve guessed it’d end in a quadruple homicide? We certainly didn’t. Anyway, it was the weekend after finals at uni, and the gang and I decided it would be “totally rad” if we spent the weekend up in the mountains, with no electricity or way of contacting the rest of humanity. I mean, it seemed like a fun idea at the time, but in retrospect ... I _am_ at the bottom of a well. As I was saying, the minute school was out, my friends and I piled into Jonah’s big, stupid van and trundled off into forest never to be seen again.

Once we had arrived at the camping site, we split into two groups. Celine, Jennie, and Dustin began setting up the tents, while Jonah and I wandered off in search of firewood.

“Hey, Ricky! Check this shit out,” Jonah called out to me in his overly surfer dude voice.

I tightened my grip on my sticks and wandered over to where Jonah was. “Oh my god, what in the hell?” I looked down and nearly dropped my sticks. There in the base of the tree were four deep claw marks.

“Yeah, bruh, totally weird.” Jonah placed his hand against the marks. “What could have made these?”

“I dunno, man,” I said, shifting my weight to my right leg. “Whatever it was must have backhoes for arms.”

Jonah giggled. “It’s probably just an abnormally large bear. Let’s get back to camp. I’m sure the others are waiting for us.”

With arms full of sticks, we returned to base camp. Jonah and I told the others about the marks we had seen.

“Hopefully, we don’t get eaten!” Dustin squawked, his arms shooting up in the air.

“Dustin,” Celine rolled her eyes and slapped him lightly on the chest, “do us all a favour and shut up.”

Dustin laughed. “Alright, alright. Just watch out for BEARS!” He squawked again, contorting his face into what he probably thought looked like a bear. It was just ugly. We all laughed pretty damn hard, though. All except Jennie, who just stared from under her pale blonde fringe with half-lidded green eyes. “We should get back to work, it’ll be dark soon.”

We agreed. No one but me seemed to notice Jennie’s strange demeanour, so I just ignored it.

A few hours later, we were gathered around the campfire, drinking beer, telling stories, and swatting at mosquitoes.

“Hey, where’s Jennie?” Jonah asked, taking another swig of his beer.

Dustin popped open another bottle. “I think she went to take a whiz.”

Celine wiggled in her seat. “She’s been gone an awful long time; I hope she’s okay.”

“I’m sure she’s fine, babe, have another beer,” Jonah slurred, clumsily tossing a bottle into a tree over Serena’s left shoulder.

“Nice going, dumbass,” I laughed.

I heard a twig snap behind me and nearly dropped my beer in surprise. I quickly spun around to see Jennie standing behind me with an unamused look plastered on her face.

“Jennie! I didn’t see you there!” Serena exclaimed. “Hey, are you okay? Your nose is bleeding.”

Jennie looked startled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand, and smearing it on her jeans. “It’s nothing, just this dry mountain air.” Her eyes looked… different somehow. Her pupils were pin-points, and their usual hazel green seemed brighter, more silver.

She proceeded to chug a whole beer and toss the bottle into the surrounding forest. “I’m going to bed.”

We watched quietly as she zipped open one of the tents and crawled in. Serena stood up and stretched. “I’m gonna join her. I’m beat. Don’t stay up too late!” She bade us goodnight and climbed into the tent, zipping it up behind her.

After a few hours and one too many beers, Jonah, Dustin, and I packed it in as well, dousing the fire and crawling into our shared tent.

I awoke two or three hours later to an absolutely horrific sound, a blood curdling scream followed by a sort of wet _hhhhkk._

My eyes flew open, and I sat bolt upright. “Guys!” I whispered, “did you hear that?”

Dustin sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Hear what?”

“That sound, that screaming.”

“Ricky, I haven’t heard a damn thing. I’m sure it’s just the wind.”

“I don’t think so, Dustin. I’m gonna go check on the girls.”

“Alright, whatever.” Dustin lay back down and snaked his arm around Jonah’s waist. “Try not to make too much noise.”

I nodded, even though I knew Dustin couldn’t see me. After taking a number of deep breaths, I ventured outside.

I zipped the tent back up and squinted into the darkness, and when my eyes adjusted, well, let’s just say I wished they hadn’t.

The tent the girls were in was gone, shredded to pieces, and soaked in blood and bits of flesh. The ground was disfigured with huge gashes, claw marks so deep they had torn roots from the earth. I clamped my hand to my mouth, stifling what was either going to be a gag or a scream. In the distance, I could hear breathing. Not human, but deep demonic wheezes. Whatever did this was close. I turned and dove behind a bush. Holding my breath, I saw a great beast come crashing through the brambles, dragging its massive, clawed hands behind it. It stopped and sniffed the air, flaring its nostrils and whipping its head erratically. Then it stopped, locking onto the tent where Jonah and Dustin were sleeping.

It dragged towards the tent, throwing its great fists into the fabric, and tearing it open with Herculean force. It then let out a grotesque bellow, ripping Jonah from his sleeping bag and jamming him down it’s throat in one fell swoop. Dustin shrieked, his cries finally muffled when the beast tore him messily in half and stuffed him into its gaping maw. It followed up by hunching over and horking up the bones in a foul smelling, acidic pile.

The beast then turned to face in my direction. I stared in horror and, feeling the blood drain out of my face, I turned and ran. I sprinted as fast as my legs would carry me. I could hear it crashing about behind me, breathing heavily, and ripping trees out of the ground to clear a path. Yet I kept running.

Eventually I spotted a house in the distance. _Salvation._ With my legs burning, I continued to run, finally nearing the edge of the massive property. With one final burst of energy, I headed for the door, but my legs went out from under me. I had broken through the shabby wood covering of an old stone well. As I fell, the forward momentum sent me chest first onto the lip of the well, earning a few sickening _snaps_ from my ribcage. I tried weakly to pull myself up, but the crushing pain in my chest and the slick wet grass beneath my hands made it impossible to hold on, and I fell, cracking my head on the stone below. I was twenty feet down, ribs broken and vision fading.

At last, there I was, lying against the cold stone, shattered, and unable to do anything other than gaze up into the darkness. I wheezed in pain and stared up at the stars, feeling death’s cold fingers gripping my brain. The taste of hot copper bubbled up my throat into my mouth. High above me, in the opening of the well, a pair of glowing green eyes stared down at me. The creature cocked its head at me curiously, watching me with interest as I struggled to breathe through the blood filling my lungs. Upside down, the beast descended into the well. The monster looked at me, its silvery-green eyes looked almost sorrowful. It reached a blood-soaked hand towards me and brushed a claw gently across my forehead and down my cheek, brushing some hair out of my eyes. I gazed, pleading, up into its face and a single tear fell from its left eye onto the stone next to me. The creature then dropped its hand from my face and crawled up and out of the well, leaving me broken and alone. I felt my skin go cold, and I let out a final ragged gasp, letting the little life still lingering within me slip away; a mixture of oxygen deprivation and head trauma shadowing my vision from the edges in.


End file.
